Communication terminal offering privacy protection for hands-free functionality using an analysis process

ABSTRACT

According to an exemplary embodiment of the invention, when a mail is received, the mail content is analyzed by a message analysis circuit performing analysis according to a keyword set in advance and read operation of the mail of the hands-free function is controlled, thereby enabling privacy protection in the vicinity of a mobile telephone or from passengers of a vehicle.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to a portable-type communication terminal and, inparticular, relates to privacy protection in a mail reading-out functionand a hands-free speech function. In this description, a mail representsan electronic mail.

BACKGROUND ART

Radio communication terminals such as portable telephones and PHSsinclude those having a mail receiving function. Such terminals includethose having a function of notifying a communication terminal user ofmail arrival using a ringtone, like in the case of call arrival, uponmail reception, a function of reading out a mail, and a hands-freespeech function.

In the case of hands-free setting, a series of operations of thesefunctions can be automatically associated with each other. For example,notification is made using an arrival sound when a mail is received and,further, it is possible to automatically read out the mail using ahands-free speech function of a portable telephone itself or an externalhands-free speech device.

However, if the hands-free speech function is not of the headphone typeor the like that allows only a user of a portable telephone to hear asound, but is the type that outputs a sound at a large volume from aloudspeaker of an external device or the portable telephone itself, thesound leaks out so that not only the user of the portable telephone butalso others around the user, for example, car passengers or the like,can hear the sound, and thus privacy or secret protection cannot beeffectively achieved.

With respect to such a problem, Japanese Unexamined Patent ApplicationPublication (JP-A) No. 2003-046635 describes an invention that controlsdisplay of a caller and hands-free speech/nonspeech based on advancesettings, a sender telephone number of a received call, and the state ina car. Further, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication(JP-A) No. 2004-140731 describes an invention wherein the hands-freefunction is automatically operated upon detection of thepresence/absence of a passenger and that a terminal has been registeredin advance, thereby implementing privacy control. Further, JapaneseUnexamined Patent Application Publication (JP-A) No. 2004-147037describes an invention that controls the hands-free operation accordingto the presence/absence of a passenger and identification information ofa call sender. Further, Japanese Unexamined Patent ApplicationPublication (JP-A) No. Hei 10-203257 describes an invention thatachieves privacy protection by detecting the presence/absence of apassenger and displaying identification information of a call sender ata position recognizable only by a driver upon call arrival.

However, the foregoing conventional privacy protection functions assumea voice call and are not adapted for a mail. Further, whether or not thehands-free is usable is judged based on the results of detecting a callsender telephone number and the presence/absence of a passenger, and soon. Consequently, there is a problem that it is not possible toimplement flexible control of hands-free function according tocharacteristics unique to a mail and the content of a message.

Therefore, in consideration of such a problem, it is an object of thisinvention to provide a device that analyzes the content of a message,upon message reception, using a message analysis circuit adapted toperform an analysis according to a keyword set in advance and judges asto whether or not a hands-free function is usable, thereby enablingprivacy protection in the vicinity of a portable telephone or from apassenger during car driving.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

For accomplishing the foregoing object, an information terminalaccording to an exemplary aspect of this invention is an informationterminal having a message communication function of communicating amessage and a hands-free function of outputting, in the form of a voicesignal, a received message received by the message communicationfunction and comprising an analysis information list storage circuit(hereinafter referred to as an analysis information list) for storingone or more analysis information for use in analyzing the receivedmessage, a message analysis circuit for performing an analysis of thereceived message according to the analysis information stored in theanalysis information list, and a hands-free function control circuit forcontrolling operation and stop of the hands-free function depending on aresult of the message analysis by the message analysis circuit.

An information terminal according to another exemplary aspect of thisinvention is an information terminal having a mail communicationfunction of communicating a mail and a hands-free function ofoutputting, in the form of a voice signal, a received mail received bythe mail communication function and comprising an analysis informationlist for storing one or more character string analysis informationcomprising one or more characters for use in analyzing the receivedmail, a mail analysis circuit for performing an analysis of the receivedmail according to the character string analysis information stored inthe analysis information list, and a hands-free function control circuitfor controlling operation and stop of the hands-free function dependingon a result of the mail analysis by the mail analysis circuit.

An information terminal according to still another examplary aspect ofthis invention is an information terminal having a voice messagecommunication function of communicating a voice message and a hands-freefunction of outputting, in the form of a voice signal, a voice messagereceived by the voice message communication function and comprising ananalysis information list for storing one or more character stringanalysis information comprising one or more characters for use inanalyzing the received voice message, a voice recognition circuit forconverting the voice message into character language information, and amessage analysis circuit for analyzing whether or not a character stringof the character string analysis information is included in the receivedvoice message converted into the character language information by thevoice recognition circuit.

An information terminal according to still another exemplary aspect ofthis invention is an information terminal having a voice messagecommunication function of communicating a voice message and a hands-freefunction of outputting, in the form of a voice signal, a voice messagereceived by the voice message communication function and comprising ananalysis information list for storing one or more voice signal patternanalysis information comprising voice signal pattern informationincluding feature information of a voice signal, a voice analysiscircuit for extracting a feature of a voice signal and outputting voicesignal pattern information, and a message analysis circuit for comparingbetween the voice signal pattern information of the analysis informationlist and the voice signal pattern information of the voice message.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a structural diagram in a first exemplary embodiment of thisinvention,

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of a user interface in the exemplary embodimentof this invention,

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram showing operations upon mail reception in theexemplary embodiment of this invention,

FIG. 4 is a structural diagram in a second exemplary embodiment of thisinvention, and

FIG. 5 is a structural diagram in a third exemplary embodiment of thisinvention.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereinbelow, a first exemplary embodiments of this invention will bedescribed in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is afunctional block diagram showing the exemplary embodiment of thisinvention. This exemplary embodiment shows the case where a privacyprotection device is mounted as part of functions of a portabletelephone terminal 100. This invention is applicable not only to aportable telephone terminal, but also to an information processingdevice such as a portable information terminal capable of receiving amessage and having a hands-free function by itself or adapted for ahands-free function by connecting an external device thereto.

The portable telephone terminal 100 comprises, like a normal portabletelephone terminal having a mail function, a radio circuit 108, a mailprocessing circuit 109, a speech circuit 107, a microphone 107 a and aloudspeaker 107 b included in the speech circuit, an arrival soundoutput circuit 106 for notifying arrival of a voice call or a mail, avoice synthesis circuit 103 for a mail reading-out function, ahands-free function control circuit 105 for controlling the voicesynthesis circuit 103 to thereby control a hands-free function, a mailinformation storage circuit 102 for storing a received mail along with amail reception time and other information, a mail information displaycircuit 101 for displaying mail information stored in the mailinformation storage circuit 102, a keyword list 110 serving as ananalysis information list, an antenna 113, and a mail analysis circuit104.

The information stored in the mail information storage circuit 102includes, in addition to the mail reception time, text data of the mailbody, text data of a mail header such as a sender and a title, mailopened/unopened information indicating whether or not the mail isopened, mail analysis results, and so on.

Herein, the mail opened/unopened information is set to an opened stateof a mail after the mail is read out by the mail reading-out function,and is set to an unopened state when the mail is prevented from beingread out by a privacy protection function and is resultantly not readout. It may also be normal mail opened/unopened state information whichis set to an opened state of a mail after the mail body is oncedisplayed by a mail display function, and is set to an unopened statewhen the mail body is not displayed at all. These information isdisplayed along with the information of the mail when a user of theinformation terminal calls out the information of the mail and displaysit on a non-illustrated display device using the mail informationdisplay circuit 101.

The portable telephone terminal 100 further comprises a privacyprotection operation section 114 that controls a user interface adaptedto operate the privacy protection function, and a privacy protectioninformation input circuit 112 for carrying out setting of the keywordlist 110 and a privacy protection information display circuit 111 fordisplaying information of the keyword list 110, which are included inthe privacy protection function operation section 114.

Herein, the mail information display circuit 101 and the privacyprotection operation section 114 represent particular partial functionsof a user interface of the portable telephone terminal 100 and may beintegrated with a non-illustrated user interface function of theportable telephone terminal 100.

One or more sets of analysis information for use in analyzing a receivedmail are stored in the keyword list 110, wherein each set of analysisinformation includes a keyword in the form of a character string of oneor more characters and attribute information set for the set keyword.

A keyword may be, for example, a noun such as a company's name or aperson's name, a word other than that, a sentence longer with morecharacters, or the like. A plurality of keywords may be specified alongwith designation of a logical condition as will be described later.

Attribute information of a keyword includes analysis range informationfor designating a specific range of mail data as a mail analysis object,a logical condition for the keyword, valid/invalid information as towhether or not an analysis of the set keyword is valid, groupinformation indicating a group the set keyword is included in, and soon.

Among the attribute information, the analysis range information,specifically, designates as an analysis object one or more specificportions of the mail body or a mail header portion such as a title and asender, thereby serving as information for limiting the analysis objectrange.

Among the attribute information, the logical condition representsinformation that designates, in terms of logical operations, an analysiscondition for analysis information when the mail analysis circuit 104analyzes mail data using the analysis information. For example, thelogical condition may be a NOT condition where it is true, judging thatthe condition is established, when any keywords are not included in ananalysis range designated by analysis range information, an ANDcondition where, conversely, it is true when all keywords are includedin an analysis range, an OR condition where it is true when any ofdesignated keywords is included in an analysis range, or the like.

By designating a plurality of keywords, a logical condition, and ananalysis range in analysis information, the user of the portabletelephone terminal 100 can set a higher-level more flexible judgment asto where or not the hands-free function is usable. For example, it ispossible to flexibly and simply perform setting of securely judgingmails from a sender using a plurality of mail addresses. Thisflexibility does not merely make it possible to perform setting bydesignating a plurality of sender or destination addresses on theassumption of a plurality of mail addresses. For example, in mails, To:,From:, a word such as “Mr., Esq.” like in general correspondence, wordsgiving a name of a character sender himself, and words including adestination or addressee are often given at the beginning or end of thebody. If keywords and attribute conditions of this invention are setaiming at such words, privacy protection can be set for all mailsconsidered to be related to specific persons or companies by detectingnames of the specific persons or companies included in messages.

Among the attribute information, the group information facilitates usinga plurality of set keywords in combination thereof. For example, a groupname is set to a client A, a client B, a family, or the like and one ormore keywords are registered in the group. After setting the group andthe keywords belonging to the group, the keywords registered in thegroup can be collectively designated and subjected to setting ofvalid/invalid and so on only by designating the group name.

The message analysis circuit 104 analyzes mail data of a received mailaccording to attribute information set in all analysis information setvalid or in all analysis information set valid in terms of a group inthe keyword list and outputs analysis results. Whether or not thehands-free control is necessary is judged based on the analysis results.

The message analysis circuit 104 may be mounted so as to enable, as aspecial analysis, a special search process such as a regular expression.

An external hands-free speech device 300 shown in FIG. 1 is an externaldevice for hands-free speech, separate from the portable telephoneterminal. For example, this is an on-car hands-free speech deviceallowing a car driver to speak through a portable telephone duringdriving.

An external device interface 200 is an interface for connection betweenthe external hands-free speech device 300 and the portable telephoneterminal 100. This is the same as a general interface for use inconnection between a portable telephone terminal and an external deviceand may be, for example, a digital interface by cable connection such asUniversal Serial Bus (USB), an analog interface such as an audiooutput/input jack by cable connection, or another wireless interfacesuch as an infrared interface or Bluetooth.

In this exemplary embodiment, the case where the hands-free function isused by using the loudspeaker 107 b for speech provided in the portabletelephone terminal 100 and the case where the hands-free function isused by separately connecting the external hands-free speech device 300on the exterior through the external device interface can be selectivelyswitched by the user of the portable telephone terminal 100 orautomatically switched according to the state where the external deviceinterface and the external hands-free speech device 300 are connectedtogether.

Next, referring to FIG. 2, a description will be given of operations ofsetting and displaying an analysis information list and displaying areceived mail. FIG. 2 shows the state where the processes of setting anddisplaying the analysis information list are implemented along privacyprotection setting operations performed by the user of the portabletelephone terminal 100 through the user interface of the portabletelephone terminal 100. The portable telephone terminal user inputs acharacter string and performs a predetermined input operation usingnon-illustrated buttons and so on, thereby performing a selection of amenu and an input to an input dialog displayed on a non-illustratedoperation screen of the user interface. The processes shown in FIG. 2are related to the privacy protection information display circuit 111and the privacy setting input circuit 112 included in the privacyprotection function operation section 114 and further the mailinformation display circuit 101 shown in FIG. 1.

In FIG. 2, step S100 shows the state where the portable telephoneterminal user has performed the operation of starting privacy protectionsetting using the non-illustrated user interface of the portabletelephone terminal 100. In the process of step S102 subsequent to stepS100, the processes of the mail information display circuit 101, theprivacy information display circuit 111, and the privacy protectionsetting input circuit 112 branch to keyword setting, keyword groupvalid/invalid setting, setting display, and privacy protection functionstart/stop switching. This represents that the three circuits 101, 111,and 112 have four main processes.

A description will be given of the process of setting a keyword/keywordsof analysis information. At first, in step S201, the portable terminaluser inputs a character string/strings of one or a plurality ofkeywords. This input and a series of information inputs in subsequentsteps S202 to S220 are carried out through operations of the privacyprotection information input circuit 114 by the portable terminal user.The keyword/keywords input in step 201 and the information input insubsequent steps 202 to S220 are stored as a series of analysisinformation in the keyword list 110.

In step S202, the portable terminal user designates a group thekeyword/keywords input immediately before belongs/belong to. Herein, anew group may be newly input for setting or, if the group has been setin the past, the set group may be called out and designated. Ifbelonging to a specific group is not designated, this step may beskipped.

Then, in step S203, the portable terminal user designates an analysisrange intended for by the keyword/keywords input immediately before.Herein, a plurality of ranges to be included as analysis objects may bedesignated like including the mail body and a title or a plurality ofranges to be excluded as analysis objects may be designated likeexcluding a sender and a destination. Then, in step S205, a logicalcondition such as an AND condition, an OR condition, or a NOT conditionis input for the one or more keywords input in step S201.

The character string/strings of the keyword/keywords, the analysis rangeinformation, the logical condition, and the group information input bythe portable terminal user in the processes of the foregoing steps S201to S205 are stored as a set of analysis information in the keyword list110 serving as an analysis information list. By repeatedly performingthe series of operations of steps S201 to S205 by the portable terminaluser, a plurality of sets of analysis information are stored in thekeyword list 110.

A description will be given of the process of valid/invalid setting fora keyword group. The setting of valid/invalid is carried out throughoperations of the privacy protection information input circuit 114 bythe portable terminal user like steps S201 to S220. At first, in stepS301, the portable terminal user selects a group as a setting object.Then, in step S302, the portable terminal user switches setting fromvalid to invalid or, conversely, from invalid to valid. Herein, thosekeywords, for which belonging to a group was not explicitly designatedat the time of the keyword setting, may be individually setvalid/invalid or may be collectively set valid/invalid as keywords withno group designation.

This valid/invalid information is stored as valid/invalid information ofattribute information of analysis information in a correspondinganalysis information area of the keyword list 110. If a group is setvalid, information indicative of valid is stored in valid/invalidinformation of all analysis information designated to belong to thisgroup, among analysis information stored in the keyword list 110.(hereinafter described as “validated”) Likewise, if set invalid,information indicative of invalid is stored for all analysis informationof the same group. (hereinafter described as “invalidated”) Allvalidated analysis information is used in an analysis process upon mailreception.

By this group information, the portable telephone terminal user caneasily switch use/nonuse of a plurality of keywords according to anoccasional state. This also applies to valid/invalid setting forkeywords with no group designation. Herein, apart from valid/invalidsetting about hands-free function control, valid/invalid setting aboutarrival sound control may also be separately carried out.

Next, a setting display function will be described. The setting displayfunction is implemented such that the privacy protection informationdisplay circuit 111 reads and displays the information stored in thekeyword list 110 through the processes of steps S201 to S220 or stepsS301 to S303.

The portable telephone terminal user selects information to be displayedin step S401 and the selected information is displayed in step S402. Inthis exemplary embodiment, the privacy information display circuit 111reads information held in the keyword list 110 and displays it on anon-illustrated display circuit or the mail information display circuit101 displays information held in the mail information storage circuit102 on a non-illustrated display circuit.

In the case of displaying the keyword list, the privacy protectioninformation display circuit 111 reads a plurality of analysisinformation stored in the keyword list 110 and displays keywords andattribute information as a list on the non-illustrated operation screen.

In the case of displaying the mail information, the mail informationdisplay circuit 101 displays, as a list, mail information stored in themail information storage circuit 102 on the non-illustrated operationscreen. The information displayed herein is a series of informationstored in the mail information storage circuit, such as the mail body,header information, a reception time, the results analyzed by the mailanalysis circuit 104, and information indicating whether or not a mailis opened or read out by the hands-free function.

A description will be given of the process of setting privacy protectionfunction start/stop switching. In step S501, switching is set accordingto an input by the portable telephone terminal user such that theprivacy protection function being stopped is started or the privacyprotection function being already in operation is stopped.

By this setting of switching, in the state where the privacy protectionfunction is started and operating and further the portable telephoneterminal 100 is set to allow operation of hands-free speech, the privacyprotection function operates to prevent mail reading-out in thehands-free speech operation according to the setting.

In the following description, the case where switching is made so thatthe privacy protection function is started and operating will be givenas a privacy function valid state and the opposite case as an invalidstate. Although a place to store privacy function valid/invalid settinginformation is not shown in the functional block diagram, it may be heldin a place where it can be properly read when the privacy protectionfunction operates, for example, in a predetermined memory.

Next, operations upon mail reception will be described using a flowdiagram of FIG. 3. This flow diagram shows the operations upon arrivalof a mail in the state where the portable telephone terminal 100 is setso as to operate with the hands-free speech function.

When a mail arrives in step S601, mail data is then received by the mailprocessing circuit 109 (step S602).

Then, in mail analysis step S603, the message analysis circuit 104analyzes the mail data and outputs analysis results for judgment insubsequent-stage privacy protection necessary/unnecessary judging stepS604.

In message analysis circuit step S603, it is first confirmed based oninformation in step S620 whether the privacy protection function iseither in a valid setting state or in an invalid setting state.

If the privacy protection function is invalid, the message analysiscircuit 104 always outputs analysis result information indicative of theprivacy protection being unnecessary regardless of the content of themail data.

If the privacy protection function is valid, the mail analysis circuit104 reads, in mail analysis process step S603, analysis informationcomposed of keywords with valid/invalid information of attributeinformation being set valid and the attribute information thereof fromthe keyword list 110 (S630 in FIG. 3). The mail analysis circuit 104receives the mail data from the mail processing circuit 109 and analyzesthe mail data with respect to the respective analysis information readat the previous stage.

If the mail analysis according to the analysis information isestablished, for example, if a keyword, for which an attributeinformation logical condition is set true when including this keyword,is detected in a range of the mail data designated by analysis rangeinformation of attribute information, the mail analysis circuit 104outputs the results indicative of the privacy protection being necessaryto subsequent-stage privacy protection necessary/unnecessary judgingstep S604. Simultaneously with this, in step S603, the mail analysiscircuit 104 stores the mail data, the mail analysis results, and otherinformation such as a reception time of the mail and so on into the mailinformation storage circuit 102.

Based on the privacy protection necessary/unnecessary judgment inprevious-stage mail analysis process step S603, the output content fromthe mail analysis circuit 104 to the hands-free function control circuit105 and the arrival sound output circuit 106 is switched and, as aresult, subsequent processes are bifurcated in privacy protectionjudging step S604.

If the analysis in the mail analysis circuit 104 results in that theanalysis of one or more analysis information is established and thus theprivacy protection is necessary, the output from the mail analysiscircuit 104 to the hands-free function control circuit 105 and thearrival sound output circuit 106 is a signal indicative of preventingthe hands-free operation. Based on the signal from the mail analysiscircuit 104, the hands-free function control circuit 105 preventsreading-out of the mail and, simultaneously, the arrival sound outputcircuit 106 prevents output of an arrival sound. Further, the mailanalysis circuit 104 records information indicative of the mail beingunopened in the mail storage circuit S640 (step S610). As a result,depending on the setting conditions by the portable telephone terminaluser, not only the content of the mail is not read in a voice, but alsoeven the arrival sound upon mail arrival is not issued. Therefore, anysounds indicating the presence of the mail do not leak out around theportable telephone terminal and thus the privacy protection is realized.Herein, the arrival sound and the mail reading-out are controlled in thesame manner. However, the arrival sound and the mail reading-out may becontrolled differently by setting valid/invalid conditions of keywordsso as to control them individually.

If the analysis in the mail analysis circuit 104 results in that theanalysis of even one analysis information is not established and thusthe privacy protection is unnecessary, the output from the mail analysiscircuit 104 to the hands-free function control circuit 105 and thearrival sound output circuit 106 is a signal indicative of performingthe hands-free operation. Based on the signal from the mail analysiscircuit 104, the arrival sound output circuit 106 outputs the arrivalsound for notifying the arrival. Further, based on the signal from themail analysis circuit 104, the hands-free function control circuit 105controls the voice synthesis circuit 103 to read out the mail. The voicesynthesis circuit 103 reads the mail data of the mail from the mailinformation storage circuit and synthesizes a mail read-out voice (step606), and outputs a produced voice signal to the external hands-freedevice interface 200 or the speech loudspeaker 107 b of the speechcircuit 107 (S607 and 107 c). A selection is made according to thesetting state of the portable telephone terminal 100 as to whether touse the external hands-free device 300 by outputting to the externalhands-free interface 200 or whether to output through the speechloudspeaker 107 b provided in the portable telephone terminal 100.

Finally, the mail analysis circuit 104 stores into the mail informationstorage circuit 102 information indicating that the received mail hasbeen read out by the hands-free function and thus opened (S608).

Second Exemplary Embodiment

The second exemplary embodiment will be described using FIG. 4. In thefollowing description, a redundant description will be omitted ofportions with the same contents as those in the first exemplaryembodiment and a description will be given focusing on portionsdifferent from those in the first exemplary embodiment.

In the second exemplary embodiment, a voice message is an object ofwhich the content is analyzed for judging whether the hands-freefunction is usable.

In the second exemplary embodiment, there are provided a voice messageprocessing circuit 420 adapted to deal with a series of functions for avoice message, such as accumulation, storage, and calling of the voicemessage, and a voice recognition circuit 409 adapted to recognize thevoice message and output it as character language information 422 to amessage analysis circuit.

When a voice message process is input to a portable telephone terminal100, the voice message is stored by the voice message processing circuit420. In the state where the hands-free function is not set, voicemessages received/input and stored in the portable telephone terminalare called out according to operations of a user and reproduced one byone. In the case where the hands-free function is set and operating, thevoice message processing circuit outputs the voice message as a voicesignal to the voice recognition circuit 409. The voice recognitioncircuit 409 recognizes the input voice signal and outputs it ascharacter language information to the message analysis circuit 104. Incompletely the same manner as in the case of the first exemplaryembodiment, the message analysis circuit 104 analyzes the voice message,converted into the character information by the voice recognitioncircuit 409, as to whether or not a specific keyword or word is includedin the content of the message, and judges whether or not the hands-freefunction is usable, thereby performing the control.

Also in the second exemplary embodiment, since the control is performedby judging whether or not a specific keyword is included in a message tothereby judge whether or not the hands-free function is usable, flexibleprivacy protection can be realized.

In the second exemplary embodiment, a voice message may be a storedmessage such as a message in the automatic answering telephone service.Alternatively, it may be configured such that a call having arrived isinitially responded to so as to receive an automatic answering telephonemessage and the voice message processing circuit 420, the voicerecognition circuit 409, and the message analysis circuit 104 areoperated in real time for processing a voice from a caller. In thiscase, after the arrival, a caller's voice uttered as a message to theautomatic answering telephone service is instantly analyzed by themessage analysis circuit 104 and, the moment a condition set in advancealong with a keyword list in a keyword list 410 is established inanalyzed voice data, switching is made to hands-free speech. Thisenables a using method such that only when specific content wasconfirmed in a voice message, switching is made to direct speech by thehands-free function from the time of the confirmation, while, unless thespecific content is confirmed, the voice message is accumulated frombeginning to end as a message to a portable telephone terminal set toautomatic answering.

Third Exemplary Embodiment

The third exemplary embodiment will be described using FIG. 5. In thefollowing description, a redundant description will be omitted ofportions with the same contents as those in the first exemplaryembodiment and a description will be given focusing on portionsdifferent from those in the first exemplary embodiment.

In the third exemplary embodiment, a voice message is an object forjudging whether the hands-free function is usable.

In the third exemplary embodiment, there are provided a voice messageprocessing circuit 420 like that in the second exemplary embodiment anda voice analysis circuit 509. Further, there is provided a voice patternlist 510 different from the keyword list 410 in the first or secondexemplary embodiment. Further, there is provided a voice patterncomparison circuit 523 different from the message analysis circuit inthe first or second exemplary embodiment.

In the third exemplary embodiment, the voice analysis circuit 509analyzes a voice message output from the voice message processingcircuit 420. The voice analysis circuit 509 analyzes a voice signal,extracts a feature of the voice signal, and outputs voice signal patterninformation to the voice pattern comparison circuit 523. Herein, thevoice signal pattern information is information indicative of a featureof a voice signal and represents, for example, voice spectruminformation, voice pitch frequency, formant, or LPC parameterinformation corresponding to voiceprint information capable ofidentifying a speaker. The voice pattern list 510 holds, instead ofkeywords in the first or second exemplary embodiment, information likethe voice signal pattern information output from the voice analysiscircuit 509. Registration of a voice pattern into the voice pattern list510 may be performed by using a voice message stored as a voice message(voice signal 525) or by newly inputting a voice to the portabletelephone device (voice signal 524). In the voice pattern registrationinto the voice pattern list 510, a logical condition can be set pervoice pattern to be registered like in the first or second exemplaryembodiment. For example, setting may be performed based on a NOTcondition so as to exclude a registered voice pattern. On the otherhand, setting may be performed based on an OR condition for the casewhere any of voice patterns is included. Further, in the voice patternregistration into the voice pattern list 510, voice patterns to beregistered may be grouped.

The voice signal pattern information output from the voice analysiscircuit 509 and the voice pattern registered in the voice pattern list510 are compared by the voice pattern comparison circuit 523, therebyjudging whether or not use of the privacy protection function inhands-free speech is necessary.

Like in the second exemplary embodiment, a voice message to be an objectin the third exemplary embodiment may be a stored message such as amessage in the automatic answering telephone service or it may beconfigured such that a call having arrived is initially responded to soas to receive an automatic answering telephone message and the voicemessage processing circuit 420, the voice analysis circuit 509, and thevoice pattern comparison circuit 523 are operated in real time forprocessing a voice from a caller. In this case, it is operated such thata response is made as the automatic answering telephone serviceimmediately after the arrival and a caller's voice uttered as a messageto the automatic answering telephone service is instantly analyzed andcompared by the voice analysis circuit 509 and the voice patterncomparison circuit 523 to thereby judge agreement/disagreement with avoice set in advance as a voice pattern in the voice pattern list 510and, the moment a judgment result is established in voice data accordingto a logical condition set for the voice pattern, switching is made tohands-free speech. This enables a using method such that, for example,only when specific content was confirmed in a voice message, switchingis made to direct speech by the hands-free function from the time of theconfirmation, while, unless the specific content is confirmed, the voicemessage is accumulated from beginning to end as a message to a portabletelephone terminal set to automatic answering.

As described above, according to this invention, the high-level flexiblecontrol of the hands-free function depending on the content ofarrived/received communication is enabled to prevent the hands-freefunction from operating inadvertently, thereby preventing leakage ofinformation to others within reach of voice to whom the communicationcontent should not be known, so that the object of this invention isaccomplished.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

As described above, a privacy protection device according to thisinvention is characterized by comprising, in addition to a messageprocessing circuit, a message information storage circuit, and a voicecircuit adapted to output a voice at a large volume at the time of usinga hands-free function, a message analysis circuit and a keyword list forsetting/holding words for use in message analysis. This enables flexiblecontrol of the hands-free function depending on the content of anarrived/received message, thereby realizing high-level privacyprotection.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A communication terminal comprising: amessage communicator configured to communicate a message; a hands-freevoice signal producer configured to produce a voice signal according toa received message received by said message communicator, said voicesignal being output for hands-free speech through an externalloudspeaker provided in said communication terminal or in a device usedthrough a wired or wireless connection to said communication terminal,wherein the external loudspeaker is configured to output sound audibleto those who are in vicinity of the external loudspeaker; an analysisinformation list storage circuit configured to store one or moreanalysis information for use in analyzing said received message in orderto judge whether or not said received message is to be audible to saidthose who are in vicinity of the external loudspeaker; a messageanalysis circuit configured to perform a message analysis process forsaid received message according to said analysis information stored insaid analysis information list storage circuit; a message storagecircuit configured to store the message analyzed by the message analysiscircuit; a message display circuit configured to display the messageheld in the message storage circuit; and a hands-free function controlcircuit configured to control said hands-free voice signal producer tonot produce a voice signal in response to a determination that saidreceived message complies with a condition designated in the one or moreanalysis information stored in the analysis information list storagecircuit, wherein: when said message is an electronic mail, analysisrange information about a range subjected to said message analysis bysaid message analysis circuit is further given to said analysisinformation by designating one or more elements of an electronic mailbody and an electronic mail header, and said message analysis circuit isfurther configured to perform said message analysis aiming at a rangeaccording to said analysis range information.
 2. The communicationterminal claimed in claim 1, further comprising means for controlling amessage arrival sound depending on said message analysis result.
 3. Thecommunication terminal according to claim 1, wherein: said analysisinformation includes a logical operation type logical condition; andsaid message analysis circuit performs the analysis process according tosaid logical condition.
 4. The communication terminal according to claim1, wherein at least one of said analysis information includes groupinformation being attribute information indicating that said analysisinformation belongs to a predetermined group.
 5. The communicationterminal according to claim 1, wherein: at least one of said analysisinformation includes valid/invalid information being attributeinformation indicating whether or not to perform an analysis processusing said analysis information; and said message analysis circuitswitches whether or not to perform an analysis process per said analysisinformation depending on said valid/invalid information.
 6. Thecommunication terminal according to claim 1, further comprising meansfor displaying said analysis information stored by said analysisinformation list storage circuit.
 7. The communication terminalaccording to claim 1, further comprising means for outputting the resultof said message analysis process.
 8. The communication terminalaccording to claim 1, wherein: when said message is an electronic mail,said analysis information is character string analysis informationcomprising one or more characters, and said message analysis circuitanalyzes as to whether or not a character string of said characterstring analysis information is included in electronic mail data.
 9. Thecommunication terminal according to claim 1, wherein: when said messageis a voice message, said analysis information is character stringanalysis information comprising one or more characters, saidcommunication terminal further comprises a voice recognition circuitconfigured to convert said voice message into character languageinformation, and said message analysis circuit analyzes whether or not acharacter string of said character string analysis information isincluded in said received voice message converted into characterlanguage information by said voice recognition circuit.
 10. Thecommunication terminal according to claim 9, further comprising meansfor performing voice call with another terminal, wherein: said voicemessage is transmitted via said voice call; said voice recognitioncircuit converts said speech voice into character language informationand said message analysis circuit analyzes said speech voice convertedinto said character language information; and said hands-free controlcircuit controls operation and stop of the hands-free function dependingon a result of said analysis.
 11. The communication terminal accordingto claim 1, wherein: when said message is a voice message, said analysisinformation is voice signal pattern analysis information comprisingvoice signal pattern information including feature information of avoice signal, a voice analysis circuit configured to extract a featureof a voice signal and output voice signal pattern information is furtherprovided, and said message analysis circuit compares between the voicesignal pattern information of said analysis information list storagecircuit and the voice signal pattern information of said voice message.12. The communication terminal according to claim 11, further comprisingmeans for performing voice call with another terminal, wherein: saidvoice message is transmitted via said voice call; said message analysiscircuit analyzes said voice message; and said hands-free control circuitcontrols operation and stop of said hands-free voice signal producerdepending on a result of said analysis.
 13. The communication terminalaccording to claim 11, further comprising a voice speech function,wherein: said voice message is a speech voice that has arrived; saidmessage analysis circuit analyzes said speech voice; and said hands-freecontrol circuit controls operation and stop of the hands-free functiondepending on a result of said analysis.
 14. A message voice outputcontrol method for controlling operation of voice-outputting a receivedmessage, received by a communication terminal through a communicationline, through an external loudspeaker provided in said communicationterminal or in another device connected to said communication terminal,the external loudspeaker being configured to output sound audible tothose who are in vicinity of the external loudspeaker, comprising: astep of storing one or more character string analysis informationcomprising character language information into an analysis informationlist storage circuit provided in said communication terminal in order tojudge whether or not said received message is to be audible to saidthose who are in vicinity of the external loudspeaker; a step ofreceiving a message by said communication terminal through thecommunication line; a step of analyzing, by said communication terminal,whether or not the character string analysis information stored in saidstorage device is included in said message; a step of storing themessage analyzed into a message storage circuit provided in saidcommunication terminal; a step of displaying the message held in themessage storage circuit; and a step of controlling, by saidcommunication terminal, output of said message through said externalloudspeaker depending on a result of said analysis, wherein said messageis not output as a voice signal in response to a determination that saidmessage complies with a condition designated in the one or morecharacter string analysis information stored in the analysis informationlist storage circuit, wherein when said message is an electronic mail,analysis range information about a range subjected to said step ofanalyzing is further given to said character string analysis informationby designating one or more elements of an electronic mail body and anelectronic mail header, and said step of analyzing aims at a rangeaccording to said analysis range information.
 15. The message voiceoutput control method according to claim 14, wherein: when said messageis a voice message, the method further comprises: a step of converting,by said communication terminal, said voice message into characterlanguage information through voice recognition is further included; andsaid analyzing step analyzes said voice message converted into saidcharacter language information.
 16. The message voice output controlmethod according to claim 15, further comprising: a step of storing thereceived voice message into voice message storage provided in saidcommunication terminal; wherein said converting step converts the voicemessage stored in said voice message storage into character languageinformation.
 17. The message voice output control method according toclaim 15, wherein said converting step sequentially converts thereceived voice message into character language information.
 18. Themessage voice output control method according to claim 14, wherein: whensaid message is a voice message, said storing step stores one or morevoice signal analysis information comprising a voice signal pattern intosaid analysis information list storage circuit instead of the characteranalysis information or along with the character analysis information;and said analyzing step compares between said voice signal patternstored in said analysis information list storage circuit and saidreceived voice message.
 19. The message voice output control methodaccording to claim 18, further comprising a step of storing the receivedvoice message into voice message storage provided in said communicationterminal, wherein said analyzing step compares between the voice messagestored in said voice message storage and said voice signal pattern. 20.The message voice output control method according to claim 18, whereinsaid analyzing step sequentially compares between the received voicemessage and said voice signal pattern.
 21. A non-transitory computerreadable recording medium recording a computer program to be executed bya controller for controlling operation of a communication terminal, saidcomputer program adapted to control operation of voice-outputting areceived message, received by said communication terminal through acommunication line, through an external loudspeaker provided in saidcommunication terminal or in another device connected to saidcommunication terminal, the external loudspeaker being configured tooutput sound audible to those who are in vicinity of the externalloudspeaker, said computer program causing said controller to execute: astep of storing one or more character string analysis informationcomprising character language information into an analysis informationlist storage circuit provided in said communication terminal in order tojudge whether or not said received message is to be audible to saidthose who are in vicinity of the external loudspeaker; a step ofreceiving a message by said communication terminal through thecommunication line; a step of analyzing, by said communication terminal,whether or not the character string analysis information stored in saidstorage device is included in said message; and a step of storing themessage analyzed into a message storage circuit provided in saidcommunication terminal; a step of displaying the message held in themessage storage circuit; and a step of controlling, by saidcommunication terminal, output of said message through said externalloudspeaker depending on a result of said analysis, wherein said messageis not output as a voice signal in response to a determination that saidmessage complies with a condition designated in the one or morecharacter string analysis information stored in the analysis informationlist storage circuit, wherein when said message is an electronic mail,analysis range information about a range subjected to said step ofanalyzing is further given to said character string analysis informationby designating one or more elements of an electronic mail body and anelectronic mail header, and said step of analyzing aims at a rangeaccording to said analysis range information.